Whether for leisure, business events, or group gatherings, Bintan Resorts is ramping up its offerings to attract more visitors from the Asia-Pacific region
Bintan Resorts will focus its marketing on Asia-Pacific next year, targeting family travel, sports tourism, business events as well as religious tourism, particularly in Malaysia and Singapore markets.
Bintan Resorts’ COO Abdul Wahab said the Indonesian destination’s infrastructure and experiences are suited for such a diverse range of traveller segments.
There are hotels with land/water sports facilities and kids’ clubs, Gunung Bintan for hiking, and various outdoor activities that cater to student groups.
Bintan’s regular sports events are also a powerful booster for the destination’s tourism industry. The Bintan Marathon takes place in December, and is followed by the Tour de Bintan in March or April, and the Bintan Triathlon in June.
There are currently discussions with LIV Golf, which wants to organise one of its tournament series in Bintan in September or October next year. This would put Bintan on the world golfing map, according to Abdul Wahab.
To win over more business events, Bintan Resorts has signed an agreement with Outward Bound Singapore to host groups for retreats and teambuilding activities over the next five years. A four-hectare site near the old reservoir, with capacity for up to 500 people, has been marked out for this.
Bintan Resorts has plans to develop a standalone convention centre in the next two to three years, capable of accommodating up to 5,000 people.
A consortium of major tourism players in Bintan has been established to plan for this future venue.
Before this arrives, corporate events to Bintan are hosted at hotels with function spaces as well as outdoor tents. Abdul Wahab said hotel venues can take in 200 and 1,000 delegates, while “luxury tents” are suitable for larger groups.
The destination has a good track record of business events.
“We have hosted three to four events for Pertamina Indonesia in the past year, and MICE bookings from China have started coming in. We already have at least 10 incentive group bookings, each with 200 to 1,000 delegates, lined up from China for 2025,” he revealed.
In preparation for these group arrivals, Bintan Resorts is planning to enhance Internet connectivity in the area, and is “in discussions with the telecommunications provider to improve the system by using cable instead of satellite communications”.
Despite these big plans, Bintan Resorts has a modest goal for 2025 – it aims to welcome 700,000 arrivals. This is significantly lower than the excess of one million arrivals Bintan received in 2019 on the back of friendly visa-on-arrival policies.
Abdul Wahab noted that before the pandemic, when the government granted visa-free access to most countries, cruise arrivals boosted tourism number. Through more than 52 port calls a year, cruise lines brought more than 300,000 passengers into Bintan.
Now, with the introduction of visa-on-arrival fees of 500,000 rupiah (US$33), many travellers prefer to skip day trips to Bintan and head to Malaysia or Thailand instead.
To achieve its target, Bintan Resorts has recently opened representative offices in China’s Shanghai, South Korea’s Seoul, and India, and is in the process of setting up a destination representative in Malaysia’s Johor Bahru.
